LADIES' MAN

Kenny Chesney gets used to life as country's new sex symbol

Kenny Chesney's mom has a slight problem with her son's role as one of country's leading sex symbols. When Karen Chandler saw an audience full of screaming females on Kenny's new tour, her maternal instincts kicked in.

"She said, 'That's my boy -- leave him alone!' " laughs Kenny. "Then she said, 'Lord, there are more girls out here than I've ever seen in my life.'

"We do," Kenny admits, "have lot of women coming to our shows."

These days that's an understatement. Kenny's new tour -- and album of the same name -- No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems -- is quickly solidifying his status as the man women want. It's a phenomenon Kenny first noticed last year during Fan Fair.

"It was the most intense Fan Fair I've ever experienced," he says. "I felt a lot more eyes on me. You can feel when people are staring at you, especially when they're doing it a lot," he adds with a chuckle. "When we took pictures on the beach for this story, it was intense. There were a lot of people who noticed me. And more than that, they were excited to see me. It's one thing to know who somebody is -- it's another thing to care. And they cared. I wanted to hug every one of them!"

Kenny's latest single, "Young," reminisces about the carefree years of teens and young adults. But Kenny's formative years were far from the adoration he's now experiencing.

"I quit growing when I was a freshman in high school," says the 5-foot-9-inch singer. "There wasn't a lot of attention paid to me in high school and college. Then, all of the girls wanted to date the athletes -- until I put a guitar in my hand and all of a sudden I had a few dates," he remembers with a smile. "You start playing music because you love music -- that's a given. But I didn't say when I first started playing guitar, 'Hey, I'm going to be a star.' I was just playing in a fraternity house, trying to get somebody to pay attention to me."

Kenny's plan worked. Since his greatest-hits album went double platinum, not only does he get noticed, he sometimes gets more than he bargained for.

Kenny Chesney is Country's latest "chick magnet". In the current Newsstand Issue[1], find out what he looks for in a woman!